Developing, testing, launching and operating a space science mission typically costs hundreds of millions to billions of dollars, but a new breed of satellites lowers the price tag to just $100,000 or so.
These cubic, one-liter, one-kilogram satellites, called CubeSats, are designed to be launched in batches and can piggyback on other space missions, thus dramatically reducing launch costs. CubeSats originated in a set of technical specifications proposed as a standard in 2000 by aerospace engineer Bob Twiggs, formerly of Stanford University's Space and Systems Development Laboratory, and Jordi Puig-Suari of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.
This is really exciting technology. And that $100,000 cost factor quoted above will soon come down to around $10,000. One potential CubeSat use that immediately comes to mind, would be a privately financed and managed CubeSat network of UFO surveillance satellites. These CubeSats would be fitted with small HD cameras operating in the visible, IR, and UV ranges. Ideally, these CubeSats would be launched into orbits immediately above and below the apogee and perigee of the International Space Station (ISS), which ranges from 173 to 286 nautical miles. Since the ISS is the only continuously inhabited space platform in Earth orbit (that is officially admitted to!), it would logically be the focus of considerable scrutiny by any ETs that might be observing Earth. The launch of such a network of observational CubeSats would certainly get the UFO disclosure gatekeepers' panties in a bunch! Maybe some philanthropists out there who are seeking the truth about the global UFO phenomenon might step up to the plate on this. One would think that billionaire Bob Bigelow's company, Bigelow Aerospace, would be a natural fit for funding a worthwhile effort like this, particularly since Bigelow recently funded a research project with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).To read more, click here.